FutureLabAE

FutureLabAE project addresses two main issues: the situation of democracy in Europe, where an increasing number of citizens, who, discontent with the political establishment, start leaning towards xenophobic and populist parties or choose not to vote at all; and the alarmingly high number of people in Europe who lack basic skills, especially digital skills, leaving parts of the population unable to benefit from the digital transformation. Adult education has a role to play in supporting societies and individuals to cope with these two issues.

Adult education organisations are often compelled to be reactive rather than pro-active and change-oriented; education can have a three-way relation to change through:

a reactive activity – helping adults, organisations and society to adapt in the changes that has already taken place;

a proactive activity – helping to anticipate future situations, or

a change oriented activity – helping to create new competences and practices which are a necessary condition for any change and/or development to take place.

Adult education staff and trainers are frequently themselves not prepared for changes in societies. They are often busy to adapt to changes in society and have little resources and competences that are needed to reorganize training provision in a more change oriented way.

Aim and objectives of the project

knowledge, expertise and tools to become more pro-active in order to develop innovative, change oriented provision which will have, on a medium-term, an extremely positive impact on low-skilled learners and the society as a whole.

Partners will develop very concrete recommendations that will allow policy-makers to support the AE sector in the challenges above mentioned as well as to draft policy initiatives on digitalisation and democracy more coherent and impactful.

Outcomes

Increased knowledge on the challenges linked to digitalisation and democracy among AE organisations, trainers and policy-makers

Two online courses (which include live and interactive webinars) on digitalisation/democracy and adult education addressed to AE organisations, staff and trainers

Two hands-on methodologies for change-oriented workshops on digitalisation and democracy

Project conclusions and recommendations for policy-makers and stakeholders (on European, national, regional and local levels)

Guidelines for AE organisations and staff on how to work more pro-actively and more effectively with the topics, in order to successfully reach out to and support people with low digital and civic competences

A final conference on the project result is foreseen in Brussels (Belgium) in June 2021, back to back to the EAEA General Assembly.

Change-oriented adult education

One of the tasks of FutureLabAE project is a collection and analysis of change-oriented adult education practises in the fields of digitalisation and democracy. The collected practices will be a resource for AE organisations, staff, trainers and policy-makers at different levels.

How do we define adult education?

We are interested in all practices (courses, learning communities or other learning environments) and tools (books, games etc.) that help adults to learn new skills, attitudes, ways of thinking and behaving – in a more change-oriented way. Learning is the key point, no matter whether the learning process is planned or naturally occurring, formal or nonformal, work related or non-vocational.

How do we define change-oriented?

A good guideline are the following two types of change orientation (Picon 1991), describing two alternative change oriented roles adult education may have:

Improve the society, community and individuals and make the necessary adjustments for more equity and better society. For example course “How to become a critically aware social media user” aims giving the participant a deeper understanding of how Facebook algorithms work and strengthen the “bubbles” people live in, and learn to change own behavior accordingly.

A more radical structural transformation leading to considerable different new ways of thinking and acting (at individual level) and/or bigger change in community and society, whether by progressive steps or radical changes through “revolutionary” (but not violent) processes. For example: Social movement where citizens and social media experts develop a new type of social media, which works the opposite way than Facebook – helps to break the bubbles and engages people in authentic dialogue in social media.

Adults and digitalisation of our society – How can we manage the challenges of digitalisation by using change oriented adult education?

Adult education and digitalisation workshop was held in Helsinki 11 December 2019. The workshop showcased change oriented adult education practices and tools, and reflected how adult education could take a more proactive role in the digital transformation of our society.

The workshop used interactive methods and digital tools to reflect upon how adult education can help to manage the challenges of digitalisation, and discuss how these practices can be transferred to participants’ organisations and countries. Participants gained an understanding, what is change-oriented adult education and how to use a change-oriented approach in teaching and learning provision, and how it could be taken into account at the policy level.

The workshop was built around the following questions:

What kind of challenges and problems digitalisation causes for adults, communities and society?

What is change-oriented adult education?

What examples there are of change-oriented adult education?

How can we use change-oriented adult education as a tool to solve these challenges?

Methodology of the digitalisation workshop

As an intellectual output of the event we have produced a description of the methodology used in the workshop. The aim of the methodology is to encourage participants to take up the methods and outcomes and transfer them in their home organization, as well as support other organisations to run similar workshops in their own contexts. Even if the whole concept can’t be applied, some of the change-oriented methods could be used.

Design for change: how to use change-oriented adult education to solve digitalisation challenges?

Description and participants profiles:

The course introduces the concept of change-oriented adult education and how it can be used to manage the challenges of digitalisation in individual lives, communities, and society in general. It highlights the core pillars of the concept of change-oriented adult education, and offers practical tips on how and when to use its specific methods to address challenges caused by digitalisation.

The course will also provide examples of good practices as well as insights from trainers and learners, who have experience of change-oriented adult education. It is mainly addressed to all adult education providers (adult educators, planners, managers, etc.) working in organisations, community development programs or associations, and policymakers, but open to everyone interested in the topic.

Structure and methodology:

Each module provides a mix of live webinars/podcasts/videos, resources, forum discussions, and self-study. The community aspect is one of the strongest elements of the course, so participants are invited to use the platform’s forum to exchange ideas, inputs, and proposals. The content planned and methodology used in this course has been shaped by a co-design survey circulated among partners’ dissemination channels.

SAVE THE DATE: The fourth live webinar will take place on Thursday the 11th of June at 2 pm CEST.

Guest speaker for this webinar will be Tara Farrell, the Deputy CEO of Longford Women’s Link (LWL). A native of Roscommon, Tara has over 21 years’ experience in the Community, Voluntary and Education sectors, working in a variety of areas including Project Management, Social Economy, Gender Equality, Conflict Resolution and engaging in Broadcast and Social Media. She holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law and has also lectured in Political Science in the University of Limerick and Management Development at Dublin City University. Tara is the Chairperson of AONTAS and is also a Director of Irish Rural Link and Roscommon Women’s Network.

–> STAY TUNED: The webinar’s link will be available soon on this page

Repository of practices and tools

Name of the resource

Type

Topic

Short description

Links, resources and developers:

#somtu

Material (article, report, other document)

Democracy & digitalisation

Any member of the Facebook group #somtu shares link for a discussion that is currently taking place on the mainstream Facebook page or site and is predominantly in the group. Others who have time and space and consider it important can join the discussion. We use #somtu in all our comments.

This 1,2,3 click! website has been designed as a family media education tool in response to the increasing use of digital media by young children, their parents, to solve many questions about how to supervise and support that use, and the lack of guidance and tools specifically dedicated to these issues for the 3-6 age bracket.

www.123clic.be Exists also under the form of a physical booklet. https://media-animation.be/Comment-accompagner-les-usages-numeriques-de-nos-enfants.html ; Média Animation asbl - Belgium

About Us!

(Community) development program

Democracy

Over a period of two weeks the diversity of the city of Zurich shall be made tangible and celebrated with artistic projects and activities supported by the city's residents. A diverse program will invite all citizens from all over Zurich to join in. The heart of these intercultural weeks are the community arts projects, which are chosen through a public call. In between, events shall take place at regular intervals in Zurich's neighborhoods, inviting people to engage with Zurich's diversity.

http://about-us.ch/englisch-startseite/ ; Association About Us, on behalf of and financed by the City of Zurich.

Abortion Rights Campaign

Informal learning practice

Democracy

The ARC is an inclusive campaign that fought for abortion rights in Ireland. They aimed to be representative of the most marginalised and vulnerable groups of women in Irish society by placing a particular focus on their stories and their involvement in the campaign. This learning practice provided free and factually correct information, materials, workshops, during the REPEAL, the 8th movement and referendum in Ireland in 2018.

In this game the user takes on the role of fake news-monger. "Drop all pretence of ethics and choose the path that builds your persona as an unscrupulous media magnate. But keep an eye on your followers and credibility meters. Your task is to get as many followers as you can while slowly building up fake credibility as a news site. But watch out: you lose if you tell obvious lies or disappoint your supporters!" Game is developed by the DROG, which is a multidisciplinary team of academics, journalists and media-experts. They conduct research, give talks, offer workshops and educational programmes and create innovative tools that help people build resistance to disinformation.

Baztille is an online tool created for French citizens willing to reinvent democracy. Everyday Baztille ask users opinion about a specific issue so they can vote for the best solution of their choice. The solution that gets the most votes will be defended by Baztille. Baztilles candidates are presented at all elections. Once elected they have only one commitment: apply all decisions taken by users through votes.

Campus Demokratie is a national platform that aims to promote political education and participation throughout Switzerland and thus strengthen democracy. It connects people and organisations, offers courses and events and provides an online information platform and carries out projects to promote public dialogue and democratic values.

https://campusdemokratie.ch

Change Makers Project

Course

Democracy

Change Makers Donegal aims to raise awareness of local and global development issues with adults across County Donegal. We have done this through a range of activities, including workshops, accredited learning, ETB tutor education, community arts projects, horticulture and environmental projects and more. The range of workshops we now offer is extensive and includes Climate Justice, Fashion and Consumerism, Gender Equality, Womens Reproductive Rights, Human Trafficking, Maternal Health, Human Rights, Environmental Workshops (bees, seeds and water), Zero Waste, Fairtrade, Migration and Refugees. In spring each year we have our annual seminar which celebrates what we have done each year and gives our project participants the opportunity to meet up and share their experience and knowledge. We currently offer three accredited learning opportunities: QQI Level 4 in Local and Global Development Awareness, QQI level 5 in Intercultural Diversity and QQI Level 6 in Global Development. We are currently in the process of developing a further module in Social Justice Principles at level 5.

https://changemakers.ie/

Clic@r na melhor idade

Informal learning practice

Democracy & digitalisation

It is a project that aims to promote digital inclusion through the provision of equitable access to digital technologies and the development of digital skills in order to access and select appropriate information and to communicate or interact securely on the web.

https://www.facebook.com/incluirmais/

Collaboratio Helvetica

Informal learning practice

Democracy

This non-profit association wants to create spaces for open dialogue, experimentation and collaboration to create the Switzerland we want to live in. Their work is related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and aims to create new ways of working and living together. The activities are: Dialogue Evenings, Social Labs (journeys to bring together unlikely allies), Community Platform (where people can contribute resources or hand in projects related to SDGs).

Context: As a part of the learning cities movement, the city of Medellin in Colombia has been recently awarded with the Learning City recognition by the UNESCO. Along with other 8 cities around the globe, they have shown exemplary progress to promote education and lifelong learning at the local level. Longtime ranked as the most dangerous city in the world, Medellin was caught to an endless violence, crime, drug trafficking history. But today Medellin has made education and innovation the milestones of its future: in 2013 it won the Wall Street Journal and City of the Year award, and, in 2016, the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize in recognition of its efforts in tackling the myriad of urban challenges. Casa Kolacho: Local initiatives such as Casa Kolacho, generated by local young people, promotes through hip hop, rap graffiti and break dance an alternative way of living and behaving. This non-profit organization runs hip-hop workshops for youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods in the west of the city, which it funds by organizing tours to the hillside communities of La Communa 13. Through the anecdotes narrated by inhabitants, the graffiti tour in La Communa 13 (which has long been considered one of the most violent places in Medellin) shows the urban-social transformation this place has experienced.

WRDA works regionally to advance women's equality and participation in society in Ireland. This programme provides training for women within communities to directly support other women within their community. The women are recruited from geographical areas that have been identified as areas of low uptake of the screening awareness, often disadvantaged and rural areas. They have gained experience over the years, designing training that is as accessible as possible, considering facilitation methods for women adult learners who have been disengaged from formal education, the timings of training sessions and impact on caring responsibilities, length of course and providing childcare and travel costs. Once trained, the Community Faciliators deliver to a range of community groups, including many that are located in areas of deprivation serving socially marginalised groups.

conspiracytheories.be/ (English version) and theoriesducomplot.be (French version) is an online tool that includes 20 videos and one pedagogical booklet (64 pages, available in French and soon in English) available for free access. It is a training tool for educational workers (teachers and educators) who would like to animate or teach about conspiracy theories from the perspective of media literacy.

Within the framework of Youth College Vienna an initiative by the city of Vienna that started in 2016 there is one course that focuses on the individual “integration” needs of young people. The course addresses issues such as values, discrimination, racism, religion, cultures and gender. The issues are addressed in a way that questions and problems the young people raise are discussed. The course is meant to be a counter measure to the – at the time of writing – compulsory courses on 'Austrian values'. Some outcomes of this course are artistic objects dealing with the above mentioned issues.

This seminar aims to address the issue of false news and scare tactics being used in the current politcal climate against vulnerable groups unhappy with the current Governing structures. It will provide a learning opportunity to recognise and build understanding in the areas of critical understanding and critical literacy challenging fake new.

https://www.nala.ie/events/critical-literacy-where-it-teaching-and-learning-seminar-wednesday-27-march-2019 ; Event concept Dearbháil (AONTAS) and Helen (NALA) and organised in partnership as part of the European Agenda for Adult Learning in Ireland.

Approche des droits culturels

Course

Democracy

Cultural rights appeared in international treaties as a source of rights and obligations since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (art 22). The cultural training allows to check the correct application of the theory of the cultural rights to the cultural, social and political grounds. It proposes a certain number of keys for the interpretation of these rights, with the aim of allowing the evaluation of their effective fulfillment in the territory and the everyday life of the community. This "effectiveness" of cultural rights concerns all fields of society and involves both cultural and social workers, and all levels of power.

Social, political and cultural event that takes place every year in the region of La Drôme in France. Hosted by the city hall of Saillans in the region of la Drôme in France, inhabitants from all ages are able to participate in discussions, conferences, workshops and theatre plays about the subject of local democracies. The event consists in political and cultural meetings to provide citizens with all the necessary tools to become more proactive and engaged in the democratic decision making of their own community.

http://curieusesdemocraties.org/index.php
http://resilia-solutions.eu/2016/08/what-can-cities-learn-from-the-participatory-democracy-experience-of-saillans/ (in english) https://info.arte.tv/fr/saillans-la-democratie-participative (only in french but subtitles available in german) ; City hall of Saillans, Drôme France. It is important to highlight the fact that the city hall of Saillans was totally transformed in 2014.

Dark side of literacy

Material (article, report, other document)

Democracy

These series of events aim at fostering the discourse on critical literacy in Austria (and Europe). So far three events have taken place (documentation available).

DigiEssi-project organised courses for the staff in liberal adult education. The aim of the courses was to improve the staffs ability to teach, provide guidance and understand the special needs of the students, and plan training that is accessible to all. The courses also aimed at increasing the use of digital and mobile technology in liberal adult education trainings and thus improving the students digital skills as citizens.

This article questions the norm that emancipation now requires mastery of technology. Without denying the importance of everyone being connected and having sufficient mastery of digital tools, the analysis draws attention to the fact that the digital divide is above all a symptom of deeper social inequalities and questions the norms that lead us to consider connectivity as an end in itself.

This material aims at developing digital competences together with migrants in a way that includes experience based learning and digital empowerment because it aims at lowering the threshold for migrant women to use information technologies in an emancipated way. The activities use a real-life situation as a starting point for work on the specific topics. The topics are apps, QR Codes, using audio and video resources and making videos. Especially the unit on producing a video seems relevant as here learner work on an instructional video for buying a ticket on public transport, i.e. they produce themselves a learning video for this topic. The unit also includes logistic elements such a copyright, protection of individual rights. Learners not only learn how to buy a ticket but also how to produce a video and upload it on the internet.

The Program for Digital Inclusion and Digital Literacy - Digital Skills Passport is an initiative of the Lisbon City Council that seeks to demystify the use of technology, helping citizens, in a simple and engaging way, to take advantage of its daily use. Through gamified and informal Digital Skills workshops, participants are challenged to explore the democratic, critical thinking and creative potential of the internet and earn digital badges, online micro-credentials (Gibson et al, 2015) based on the Open Badges standard. Earned badges become available on an online portfolio, the "Digital Skills Passport", allowing skills to be shared across the web, on social networks or included in a Résumé, while boosting employability skills and digital citizenship.

Do Not Track is a personalized documentary series about privacy and the web economy. This documentary series explore how information of every person is collected and used. Every two weeks, they release a personalized episode that explores a different aspect of how the modern web is increasingly a space where movements, speech and identities are recorded and tracked.

https://donottrack-doc.com/en/about/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GORviDaK9k ; Public media broadcasters, journalists, developers, graphic designers and independent media makers from different parts of the world: Upian (a Paris-based production company), the National Film Board of Canada, Arte (a French and German public broadcaster), Bayerischer Rundfunk (German public broadcaster within the ARD), Radio-Canada (Canada's national public broadcaster), RTS (Switzerland's public broadcaster) and AJ+ (digital-only video news network and community from the Al Jazeera innovation department) Upian

Deutsch lernen ohne Schrift

Material (article, report, other document)

Democracy

These materials aim at providing methods and activities for learners in German as a Second Language Courses who can neither read nor write in German (or Latin script).

Training course for inhabitants in the region of Toulouse in France, led by la Ligue de l'enseignement - the biggest association in France that deals with education, training, culture and communication. This training aims at producing a local opinion/information newspaper, with a philosophical approach of the citizenship concept. This training course was created as part of the national French program called éducation aux medias (education on media) coordinated by the Minister of Culture. Some practices: deontology of positive, responsible and criticism media; a collection of community initiatives (valorisation of inhabitants); opening towards the international in the spirit of reporter without borders - Dominion of words, no insult or defamation, respect for privacy -Topics on ecology, environment; variety of lived experiences: reports, interviews, conflict negotiations, revitalization of tired teams. Some pedagogical content: analyse a media (triangle of media analysis: the reading audience, the media and the journalist); introduction to the history of media; understand the stages of media production and the roles of each: from the editorial project, through the writing conferences, the journalistic and documentation work, the layout of the media, diffusion and partners; introduction to journalistic techniques.

La ligue de l'enseignement, FRANCAS, Cémea as part of the project « D-Clics numériques »

Euforia: From Inspiration to Impact

Informal learning practice

Democracy

Euforia describes themselves as an innovative, youth-driven NGO based in Switzerland with a community of volunt'heroes in over 20 countries across three continents. Combining non-formal education and transformative learning methods we empower people and organizations to embark on their own change-making journey. Our key strength is to create safe spaces where people realize their own potential, find solutions and become transformational leaders.

NGO Euforia, Switzerland

Fake News

Seminar or webinar

Democracy & digitalisation

The aim of the course is to identify fake news, to demonstrate methods of manipulation and to show reliable resources in www. (Course duration: 4 hours)

Pop-up radio station focused on equality, access and inclusion in adult education: 'At the heart of FREE THOUGHT FM is a 30-day live broadcast of conversations in the gallery between the artist Garrett Phelan, invited FREE THINKERS and members of the public. These conversations will open up the critical and often hidden issues of class inequality and inequality of access to education in the Dublin region.'

The project trained medical students in dialogue and popular writing skills so they could better respond to common and false health beliefs, which are not based on science. The media literacy project aims firstly to use the professional knowledge of future doctors to enable them to be more active in the civic society and on the other hand help people separate the evidence based medical science from health claims that can be harmful. This was done by the students writing popularised science articles tackling the claims on the project website along with other medical experts (www.vastalaake.fi (in Finnish)) and in conversations with people in health cafes (World Café -method). 30 medical students took voluntarily part in our pilot course. They were trained for 30 hours in communication, dialogue, writing, media processes and source criticism.

Tous Homonumericus is a program of informal workshops dedicated to the stakes of the numeric communication intended to people that suffers of a numeric gap (elderlies, socially excluded, suffering of low disabilities). During a whole day, they discover the common ways to use numeric tools but beyond the technical skills, the point is to think on the ways by which the numeric environment challenges the society. The final objective is to empower people by emphasizing their critical skills and awareness toward the numerisation under economical, political, social and technical perspectives.

This material aims at developing digital competences together with migrants in a way that includes experience based learning and digital empowerment. It aims to lower the threshold for migrants to use information technologies in an emancipated way. The most interesting aspect of this material and project is the fact that ICT not only is the medium of learning but at the same time the topic. The activities use a real-life situation as a starting point for work on the specific topics. Topics are apps, QR Codes, using audio and video resources and making videos. Especially the unit on producing a video seems relevant as here learners work on an instructional video for buying a ticket on public transport, i.e. they themselves produce a learning video for this topic. The unit also includes logistic elements such as copyright, protection of individual rights. Learners not only learn how to buy a ticket but also how to produce a video and upload it on the internet. Furthermore it should be noted that the aim of some of the activities is to foster the use of digital environments outside the classroom.

The DCU Intergenerational Learning Programme is part of the School of Education Studies. It began in 2008 to engage older people from the wider community and DCU students in teaching and learning together in a third level environment. It started with a small number of classes on Saturday mornings, where older people were joined by DCU student volunteers to learn basic ICT skills, and gradually evolved, through engagement and dialogue. Participation in third level education, whether for the first time or as a means of re-introducing academic learning into a new phase of your life, has long been denied to the older generation. Through their participation in the Intergenerational Learning Programme, some learners have overcome fear of technology, and become proud participants in the digital world; some have gone on to join undergraduate degrees, and others have discovered a talent for writing.

A place for critical educational works addressed to migrant women; das Kollektiv offers: literacy course, preparatory courses for external school leaving exams, cultural events, political activities concerning feminist issues of migrants, theoretical work on critical education and literacy, organisation of conferences and authoring of books and political grassroots work, teacher training courses in cooperation with other feminist/migrant NGOs, cooperation with universities.

The media literacy project strengthens the professionalism of Palestinian journalists and other media workers and increases their understanding of media practices and media literacy skills. The project provides Palestinian journalists, NGO workers and public sector employees means to produce and critically evaluate information about events in the region.

Media Literacy Ireland is a network of interested parties working together to promote media literacy across Ireland. They provide seminars with guest speakers in an effort to increase awareness and understanding in engaging with the media. We believe that media literacy is the key to empowering people with the skills and knowledge to understand how media works in this changing environment, to interrogate the accuracy of information, to counter unfair and inaccurate representation, to challenge extremist views and, ultimately, to make better informed media choices.

Finnish national broadcasting company YLE created digital learning tools to teach media literacy. They took eight real life media cases resolved by Finnish Council of Mass Media (CMM) and created videos of them. (The Council is a self-regulating committee whose task is to interpret good professional practice and any person who thinks there has been a breach of good practice by media may bring this to the attention of the CMM). Learners will be invited to first read the good practise guidelines for journalists created by CMM and then watch the videos and tick a box "did the media screw up or not". Then they see the right answer and read the reasoning behind it. Themes are for instance: should the victims of a terrorist attack be asked before publishing their photo?; did the radio hosts go too far by joking about the plight of the refugees? The short videos are descriptive and entertaining with pictures and infographics, narrative explanation of the case (complaint, defence, what part of the journalists's ethical guidelines are in question). The type of misconduct is mentioned, for instance "product placement", "privacy protection", or "truthfullness of media". The project got an award for media literacy project with greatest Europe-wide scalability potential in European media literacy week 2019.

The project ( 2012 – 2014) aimed at migrant women who were learning German as a second language and aimed at comprehensive participation in society. This was done by offering german courses with specific content: environment and society and the production of a Catalogue for "Wissenstransfer zu Nachhaltigkeit in MigrantInnencommunities", ( transfer of knowledge for sustainability for migrant communities). Additionally workshops for economic basic skills were offered by "Miteinand er Lernen - Birlikte Öğrenelim".

Platform for citizens and organisations to share in the promotion and development of tolerance in Banska Bystrica. The aim of the platform is to promote and develop the tolerance of diversity through social, cultural and educational events.

http://niot.sk/ ; CKO- Centrum komunitného organizovania, Slovakia

A avó veio trabalhar

Informal learning practice

Democracy

Grandma Came to Work is an intergenerational creative hub, were social and emotional bonds are knitted in the local community and where elderly people can be themselves. The idea is to fill the gap between generations, offering everyone a place where they can meet, discuss and learn from each other. As a result, they create unique handmade products and experiences of local immaterial culture and tradition.

https://www.facebook.com/AAvoVeioTrabalhar/ www.fermenta.org

Büro für partzipatorische Angelegenheiten

Informal learning practice

Democracy

As part of the intercultural weeks of the city of Zurich, radio broadcasts will be produced live, in which people who are not allowed to vote discuss current political topics and thus have their say.

Kaikkien Vaalit (Our Election) is democracy education activity developed by Finnish Network of Multicultural Associations, Moniheli. The goal of the #KaikkienVaalit campaign is to promote the participation and influencing of immigrants in the Finnish society. The 2019 edition is carried out through activation workshops and panel discussions. In the workshops participants learn about voting and elections in Finland, about the role of the parliament, as well as basic information about Finland's largest political parties, the main themes discussed during the election campaign, and about ways to participate and influence in addition to voting. The questions developed in the workshops will be presented to the parliamentary candidates taking part in the Kaikkien Vaalit panel discussions. The main themes used in the panel discussions are based on the workshops. The Kaikkien Vaalit campaign is organised for the parliamentary elections from February 26th to April 14th in Helsinki and all over Finland. The workshop materials are freely available for all. Workshops can be organised by many different associations, in various languages.

The participatory budget is a measure for the development of urban projects in partnership with the inhabitants. It enables them to participate in the organisation of their city and their neighbourhood by carrying out projects that they have created and selected. It also enables the municipality to build a new relationship with the citizens by discussing the use of part of the municipality's financial resources. Finally, it enables the city to promote the development, animation and transformation of neighbourhoods through the ideas of the people who live there or bring them to life. The City defines a budget line and calls the citizens to submit projects for the area they live in. The project proposals are then submitted to the people for a vote. If accepted, the projects are implemented by the initiators.

https://my.lausanne.ch/budget-participatif/ ; City of Lausanne

Policy Kitchen

Informal learning practice

Democracy & digitalisation

Policy Kitchen is a method developed by foraus - Forum Foreign Policy to generate concrete solutions for urgent foreign policy challenges. Policy Kitchen is based on a digital innovation platform and physical workshops, so-called Policy Cooking Days. Committed to the bottom-up principle, Policy Kitchen enables the participation of a wide variety of thinkers in the political process. Based on pilot projects in Switzerland, Policy Kitchen connects the international "Open Think Tank Network" and other actors. This enables comprehensive transnational cooperation in relation to global challenges. The vision is to use this method to strengthen democratic participation in international politics.

This framework was the basis for all projects and courses for basic skills and “Basisbildung” funded by the national and regional governments under the umbrella of “Initiative Erwachsenenbildung” from 2011 to 2019. The position paper had a semi-legal status and was replaced by a retro-pedagogical curriculum in May 2019. The principles are strongly oriented on the works of Freire, Gramsci and partly Spivak. It put the learner at the centre of all pedagogical work with three main learning field: languages, ICT and maths. There are no levels and work with learners should be centred on their needs and wishes, taking their individual situation in society as a starting point of literacy work. The so-called filters should “control” the view on the individual learning fields form the perspectives of “pedagogical relations”, learning, the political situation and the contexts. The design of a didactic setting is oriented on the needs of the learners. The selection of topics happens in dialogue with the learners on an individual basis. Basic education in the present societal context reflects and considers the reasons for the production of a need for basic education. The need for basic education results from developments in society and changing challenges for people and their every day life. Limited possibilities of active participation, a limited or no access to new technologies, reduced participation on the labour market as well as reduced access to education produce limited scopes in life as well as disruptions in the management of ones life. They are obstacles for orientation in a permanently changing world. Basic education generates cosmopolitan perspectives for transcultural views an makes societal processes of exclusion and discrimination visible in order to reflect them critically. It enhances active participation in society. It also encourages the individual to co-create and change the world instead of "just living in it".

Fachgruppe Basisbildung

Restorative Practices Ireland

Training and learning method

Democracy

Restorative practice is a social learning method that supports democratic decision making and shared responsibility through participatory learning and improved communication among participating members.

The School for Democracy training program was built on years of experience, when we realized that systematic work in the field of education, and thus cooperation with schools, is crucial to addressing the threats of growing extremism and radicalization among young people. The program is a synergistic link between formal and informal, sensitive and modern, interactive and effective grouping of all the good that education can bring.

http://niot.sk/program-vzdelavanie/ ; CKO, Zuzana Szaboová, Slovakia

SDG Advocate Programme

Course

Democracy

The SDG Advocate programme will offer 26 active citizens an opportunity to become one of Irelands SDG Advocates through this innovative project. This training course will allow the advocates to deepen their understanding of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, represent the project internationally and lead transformative change in Ireland.

Online tool helping users to manage hate speech in social media. Aims to provide citizens and civil society with arguments, facts, experts advices and media resources in order to pacify discussion. Seriously addresses the most common subjects of hate speech such as racism, xenophobia, LGTB-phobia, anti-Muslim, sexism.

An open youth training programme that aims at empowering young people who are above compulsory schooling age and need “orientation” on continuing schooling, further training or life in general. Until recently young people could just show up for the “open training” and would receive €10 per day if they stayed. After “ open training ” they could attend “training” in one of the four centers: design, girls, nature or creativity.

This publication brings together the contributions of 12 experts who provided their analysis during two days of training organised by the Christian Workers Movement (CWM) on the state of democracy in Belgium and, more broadly, in Europe. The questioning at the origin of the training is as follows: Democracy is intended to be a decision-making process that is in line with the point of view of a majority, while respecting minorities. In our country, this is embodied in the election of a collective of representative policies, in dialogue with organised civil society. Today, disenchantment is there: many citizens are withdrawing; the complexity of the world opens the decision-making space to non-elected technocrats; in counterpoint, populisms are simplistic and demagogic; interaction with organized civil society is seized. All these pathologies are crossed by the same major question: under what conditions can public good decisions be both effective and legitimate?

Timeout is a new way to generate and have constructive public discussions. Timeout was launched by Sitra and Demos Helsinki and has been created together with various organisations and experts by trying out different methods all around Finland in 2017. The development work continues and Timeout is used in many different events in Finland. The purpose of the Timeout is to strengthen peoples participation in society, mutual trust, the understanding of future developments and their connection to decision-making. The primary goal is not to change anyone's mind but to create more constructive understanding between different perspectives. The discussion follows certain steps developed in the project, and the discussion groups have a facilitator trained in the Timeout method. Sitra has developed tools that can be used in learning the method, planning the events and facilitating the discussions.

The project trains people with disabilities and special needs in digital tools by organising digiclub activities. Part of the project is to develop peer digital support services, where people with disabilities teach each other. Digital long distance support services are developed with the aim to enable people with disabilities to live independently. Project is also enlarging peoples social life circles by creating virtual discussion forums (virtual digiclubs) for them.

A collaborative programme designed to support members of an ethnic minority group with their leadership skills and advocacy. This course took place over 5 days and supported capacity building by recognising and building upon leadership within the Traveller community, and supporting future Traveller representation in leadership and advocacy roles in Irish society.

http://dave.dunn.ie/work/leadership-course-for-travellers-exchange-house-ireland/ ; Concept developed by Dearbháil Lawless and training developed and delivered by Dave Dunne for Exchange House Ireland National Travellers Service.

Ubunto Academy

(Community) development program

Democracy

Launched in 2010 to undertake informal educational activities aimed at young people with leadership profiles from disadvantaged backgrounds, the UBUNTU Academy aims not only to provide training in leadership so that these young people can be agents of change within their communities but also to develop and strengthen service models benefiting the community and entrepreneurship, drawing on the influence of figures such as Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Aristides Sousa Mendes, Sang Suu Kiy and Desmond Tutu. In 2015 the Ubuntu Academy III, which was run simultaneously in Lisbon and Porto, held 17 seminars in Lisbon, 15 seminars in Porto and 4 joint seminars in Lisbon and Porto, one of which was residential. Social projects launched by some of the trainees in 2014 also continued to operate with very positive results. These projects included the project Vidas UBUNTU, which is run by a former trainee and funded by the Active Citizenship Programme, which has been working with pupils and teachers from 110 schools around the country to promote democratic values through a storytelling methodology.

This project promotes reflection, explanations and practical work on rights and the active citizenship of foreigners residing in Geneva. 41% of the population of Geneva are of foreign origin. Through various activities, the project offers answers, which are adapted to the target group, and invites people to think about active citizenship. The Albanian folk high school acts as an interface between the Swiss society and the Albanian diaspora and opens its doors to all other not-mother tongue communities in Geneva.

Training kit for young bloggers, social media activists, community managers, moderators, aged 18 - 30, with proven capacity to mobilise young people online. This material wants to provide them information about online hate speech, fake news and how to counteract them in order to have haters free profiles.

As part of the media education strategy from the French government, Les veilleurs de linfo is the new training course developed by La ligue de lenseignement- with the support of the Ministry of Culture. La ligue de l'enseignement is the biggest association in France that deals with education, training, culture and communication Composed by 6 training sessions, this course aims to train young people and adults living in a context in which fake news, conspiracy theories are generating observable drifts.

http://www.laligue42.org/index.php/numerique/les-veilleurs-de-l-info https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-m1yVOd2vg ; La ligue de l'enseignement France with the support of the Ministry of Culture

Verein Ute Bock

Course

Democracy

Initially a residential accommodation for young refugees based on the initiative of a single woman who as an ex-social worker decided to get active for refugees, now a network of volunteers with flats and houses for refugees and a centre for education that offer German as a second language course, Farsi, English, cultural and sports activities.

https://www.fraubock.at/ ; Ute Bock (gest. 2018), Austria

Akademie der Zivielgesellschaft

Course

Democracy

This project offers training and orientation for people intending to create voluntary work initiatives. The course contains training in special areas such as organisation, communication as well as elements of reflective work for volunteers on their initial ideas, in order to refine them up to a point at which they are feasible. Additionally, the projects proposed by participants are linked to existing organisations and initiatives in order to safeguard sustainability.